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Research Interests
My research interests fall broadly within Biological Oceanography and Marine Ecology, with a focus on the community ecology of zooplankton, in particular the role of mesozooplankton (organisms < 2mm in size) and microzooplankton (organisms <200 µm in size) in pelagic food webs. I have investigated the distribution, composition and trophic ecology of meso- and microzooplankton in a range of aquatic environments, from the open ocean (equatorial Pacific) to coastal and estuarine regions (coastal CA, San Francisco Estuary, Columbia River Estuary), and more recently in near-coastal freshwater lakes (Vancouver Lake). I am especially interested in how microzooplankton impact the flow of energy through the lower food web through their behavior as predators and grazers, as well as prey for higher organisms. In addition to field-based studies, I am currently funded by the Office of Naval Research to experimentally investigate the behavior and differential grazing impact of microplankton and mesozooplankton on "thin layers" of phytoplankton, using 2-meter tall "plankton towers" housed in our labs at WSU Vancouver. In addition to my scientific research activity, I am also very interested in science education and pedagogy, in particular training new teachers and providing professional development for in-service science teachers. I served as Co-PI for a $2 million National Science Foundation "GK-12" grant that partnered science graduate students with public school teachers in the San Francisco Unified School District, and have taught courses in science pedagogy for graduate students at UC Berkeley. I plan to continue these sorts of activities focused on students and teachers in SW Washington.
Representative Publications
Gifford, S.M., Rollwagen Bollens, G.C., Bollens, S.M. (In revision) Mesozooplankton omnivory in the upper San Francisco Estuary. Marine Ecology Progress Series. Rollwagen Bollens, G.C. and Penry, D.L. (In revision) Variability in micro- and nanoplankton biomass and composition in the San Francisco Estuary: Seasonal patterns and effects of the 1997-98 El Niño. Marine Ecology Progress Series. Rollwagen Bollens, G.C., Bollens, S.M., Penry, D.L. (In press) Vertical distribution of micro- and nanoplankton in the San Francisco Estuary, in relation to hydrography and predators. Aquatic Microbial Ecology. Slaughter, A.M., Bollens, S.M., Rollwagen Bollens, G.C. (In press) Grazing Impact of Mesozooplankton in an Upwelling Region off Northern California, 2000-2003. Deep-Sea Research. Rollwagen Bollens, G.C. and Penry, D.L. (2003) Feeding dynamics of Acartia spp. copepods in a large, temperate estuary (San Francisco Bay, CA). Marine Ecology Progress Series 257: 139-158 Rollwagen Bollens, G.C. (2003) Protozoan-metazoan linkages in planktonic food webs: Spatial and temporal variability and trophic role of micro- and nanoplankton in the San Francisco Estuary. Ph.D. Dissertation in Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley. Rollwagen Bollens, G.C. and Landry, M.R. (2000) The biological response to iron fertilization in the eastern equatorial Pacific (IronEx II). II. Mesozooplankton abundance, biomass, depth distribution and grazing. Marine Ecology Progress Series 201: 43-56. Coale, K., Johnson, K., Fitzwater, S., Gordon, R., Tanner, S., Chavez, F., Ferioli, L., Sakamoto, C., Rogers, P., Millero, F., Steinberg, P., Nightingale, P., Cooper, D., Cochlan, W., Landry, M., Constantinou, J., Rollwagen, G., Trasvina, A., Kudela, R. (1996) A massive phytoplankton bloom induced by an ecosystem-scale iron fertilization experiment in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Nature 383: 495-501.